Woodstock woman exposes web's dark corners

Adorned with the graphic of the city of Woodstock, it’s an anonymous website where men secretly leer, banter, trade and shop for intimate photos of women.

The men trolling a thread on the page entitled “Woodstock” are seeking what they call “wins” — photos of naked women who live in Woodstock and Oxford County.

Some of the women on the website where the nude photos are posted and uploaded are teachers, factory workers and service industry workers.

There are also requests for female students past and present who attended high schools in Woodstock and Ingersoll.

Many of the photos posted had been sent by women to their intimate partners with expectations they would never be shared, said Woodstock resident Shainee Chalk whose photo appears on that site.

“None of the girls involved should be ashamed of what happened,” Chalk said. “The men we trusted with the photos should be ashamed of what they have done to us.”

Sometimes the online posts are accompanied by the women’s names or initials beside the photos, and often lewd comments.

At one point in the thread the men refer to “panic” and ask for a new invitation to Discord, a chat app.

Chalk said the anonymous site, which is not being named by Postmedia to avoid driving traffic to it, is the original site from which the nude photo thread on Discord was formed.

Woodstock police confirmed Monday they’re investigating complaints from several women who say intimate photos of them were distributed on Discord without their consent.

The app based in San Francisco quickly removed the photos following a complaint.

Woodstock police said investigators are beginning interviews with about dozen women.

Sgt. Kevin Talsma, who is leading the investigation into the posting of the intimate photos, said the investigation is hampered by the difficulty tracking the anonymous online posters.

Posting intimate images of another person on the internet without their consent is illegal in Canada.

Talsma said police plan to interview about a dozen women.

“We will be reaching out to them,” he said. “Hopefully we will have more information by the end of the week.”

The men on the anonymous Woodstock site also refer to another private group where they also trade photos, meaning there are likely more sites like the Woodstock one out there.

This is a pack mentality of men who think this is OK – it’s not OK

Diane Harris

The revenge photos in Discord came to light after a woman, who doesn’t want her name published, infiltrated the app and informed dozens of women last week via Facebook messenger that their photos had been posted.

While Chalk is not one of the women who reported that photos of her were being shared on Discord to Woodstock police, she said she told police about the Woodstock website a couple of years ago.

The 27-year-old said she wants to go public about her situation and the photo-sharing website to raise awareness in the media and social media about the issue.

Her nightmare began in 2011 when images of her were posted to the now defunct isanyoneup.com, a pornographic website that was forced to close in 2012.

In what Chalk believes was an act of revenge porn, her photos first found their way to that website.

Eventually the information posted ended up on Twitter, including personal information about who she was and where she lived. Family members and fellow students then became aware of what happened to her.

Young and in love, she said she sent photos to a person she thought she could truly trust.

“I was devastated,” she said. “When you are with a boyfriend you do what they want you to do.”

The experience, which occurred right after her mother’s death, had damaged relationships with family members and left her suffering from deep depression. She worries that one day her not-yet-born children will find them.

But Chalk said she feels it’s time someone spoke out.

“I want people to know that there is someone ready to stand up and go public with this,” she said. “So many girls are afraid and ashamed to stand up. I want people to realize this is an issue and that just because someone shares a photo, it doesn’t mean they can post it online.”

A second woman, whose photos were also were found on the Discord site, said she is angered to learn of the anonymous Woodstock site and of the glib comments posted next to images.

While she doesn’t want her name published, the woman said she recognized many of the women on the site as coming from Woodstock and it has left her with a sense of hopelessness.

“I’ve realized that this is never going to end,” she said. “It’s very sad to see that some of these women have careers which will most likely be in jeopardy because of these pictures being circulated. I do recognize a lot of the names and faces, and it is so sad to see that so many women have fallen victim to these disgusting people.

“If I have learned anything in this situation, it is that you cannot trust anyone, which is a very sad reality. I truly hope that we do all get justice.”

Diane Harris, of Ingamo Homes, works with women who have been abused.

She described the photo-sharing site “as shameful and disturbing.”

“To me what it’s doing is allowing males to support sexual violence and abuse,” she said. “It is on the same line as sexual harassment.”

“This is a pack mentality of men who think this is OK – it’s not OK.”

Harris said that the idea that it is the women’s fault because they sent the photos, or victim blaming, needs to change.

“No one makes fun of someone who suffered from identity fraud,” she said. “This is fraud and a criminal offence. We all have stand up and speak out about this.”